What does it take to turn a bland space into a warm and inviting place where you want to spend your time? This is probably the number one question I’m asked during a client consultation. Nobody wants a home that feels cold or impersonal, but sometimes our efforts land us in that difficult position. Often, we don’t know what’s missing or how to correct it, but we’re left with a space that is uninviting and unwelcoming. A well-considered colour palette can make all the difference.
The goal for all of us when it comes to our homes is to build a space that feels warm but mostly that feels like home. We want to walk through the door at the end of each day and feel safe in a space that reflects our values, our family and our interests.
Your colour palette should reflect your personality and lifestyle. A vibrant colour palette can energize a space, while muted tones can promote tranquility.
When creating your ideal colour palette, keep in mind the importance of selecting shades that harmonize with each other.
If you’re a design lover you likely already know that the single biggest transformation you can make in your home is through the use of colour. Particularly, a colour palette that embraces the entirety of the home instead of singular colours in each room. How to achieve this is the difficult part of the equation. Knowing what’s wrong is different than solving the problem but I’m here to help. This guide will walk you through all the information you need to create a colour palette suited for your home. These are simple changes that will elevate your home and make it look like you hired a designer.
A well-planned colour palette ties the home together, creating a seamless flow from room to room.
The Complete Guide to Creating a Warm and Cohesive Colour Palette for Your Home: Discover how to choose the right colour palette that complements your space.
Table of Contents
Tips For Creating a Warm Colour Palette
Warm Colours for the Win
It stands to reason that if you want your home to feel warmer that the colours you select should also be warm. The difficulty lies in determining which colours are cool and which are warm, particularly when selecting from a tiny paint chip.
The colour wheel above illustrates that certain colours are determined to be warm and others are cool by nature. While there are complexities to colour that we’ll explore further we can generally assume that blue is going to be cool and yellow will be warm.
Creating a colour palette for your home likely won’t involve any of the colours you see above because these are bold and not suitable for most homes. Having an understanding of which side of the colour wheel these colours exist can be helpful though.
Undertones Explained
This is where the magic lies. If you can learn to decipher the undertone of a colour you’ll be ready to create your own colour palette.
So what is an undertone? Essentially it’s a tone hidden within a colour. Undertones are everywhere but they’re most obvious when selecting neutral colours. The reason they can be so difficult is because when you look at a colour in isolation you won’t see the undertone. It’s only when compared to other similar colours that you’ll begin to see the undertone appear.
There are undertones in every fixed element of your home, from tiles to flooring to countertops. When the undertones work well in their environment all you see is the colour you selected and the undertones remain relatively hidden.
Below is an example of how undertones can appear differently and change the colour and the tone of the paint we select. This doesn’t just happen with beige paint but neutral paint is the place where undertones are most present. Learn more about my favourite beige paint in this post.
Find Your Home’s Undertones
Now that you know how to detect the undertone in your paint options it’s time to find the one that works in your own space. Find the largest element in your room. In a living area it could be the drapery, the flooring or the sofa. In the kitchen it could be the cabinetry or the countertops. Any material or furniture item that isn’t going to be replaced soon will need to be considered.
Try to identify the undertones of that primary material and then you’ll have a jumping off point for finding the right colour. Really what you’re trying to do is find a similar undertone to those that already exist. That makes for the most harmonious match.
Compatible Undertones
Ideally we want to match our large fixed elements with the same undertone in our beige paint but it’s not always possible. Sometimes we are living with choices we made in the past and we actually have more than one undertone present.
In that case pick one that works best with the various undertones. For instance, maybe in the past (before you knew better) you installed a green beige floor tile with gold beige wooden cabinetry. No, it’s not ideal but sometimes we have to make it work.
Focus on the beige paint chips that have either green or gold undertones and go for the one that feels better. It’s likely that either undertone will work so let your gut guide you to make the final decision.
Creating the Palette
Now you’re armed with the most important and crucial information for helping you create a palette that works for you in your home. It’s time to pick the colours. In order to create a warm palette you’ll need to be using colours that have warm undertones.
If you’re working with existing furniture, drapery and rugs you’ll want to create the palette on those existing elements. Your primary colour(s) will come from the colour(s) that already exist in your home and they will drive the direction of the palette.
Looking at the image above you’ll see a room with four primary colours. I always create my client’s palette to include 3-4 colours. In this home we used a bold wall colour to offset the very neutral sofa and rug that dominated the space. The gold accents weave throughout the space creating strong continuity and the final accent colour is green which is repeated on opposite sides of the space.
Building a Layered Colour Palette
When you build an intentional and cohesive colour palette for your home it will add depth and cohesion to every space in your home. Instead of relying on just a single colour you’ll be creating a colour hierarchy that includes a primary, secondary and accent colour(s).
Primary Colour
This is the dominant backdrop of your home. This colour will appear on the largest surfaces and will set the tone for your home’s colour experience. This is most often the colour used on walls but can also be found in larger furniture pieces like sofa or chairs as well. Your primary colour doesn’t need to be boring but it needs to be a colour that’s versatile and goes with lots of other elements in your space.
Secondary Colour
This colour should complement the primary colour you’ve selected. While it can be a completely different colour it should add some dimension without stealing attention. The secondary colour can be used in adjoining rooms, in cabinetry or in large furniture and rugs.
When selecting this colour you’ll first need to decide if you want to create contrast or harmony in your palette. For continuity you’ll want to select a colour that lives within the same colour family as the primary colour. This could be several shades darker than the primary colour but will enhance the tone. For more interest you can select another colour unrelated to the primary colour. Just be sure that the secondary colour is used often enough that it feels intentional but less often than the primary colour.
Accent Colour(s)
The accent colour or colours should be the boldest layer in the palette because this is where you’ll add personality. We most often find these colours in smaller furniture pieces, throw pillows, artwork, etc.
The most commonly accepted ratio when creating a palette is:
Primary Colour – 60%
Secondary Colour – 30%
Accent Colour(s) – 10%
How Many Colours is Too Many?
There’s no specific number of colours that feels just right but most designers will agree that between 3 and 5 colours is perfect for a palette. Any more than that will start to create visual chaos in your space. Having said that, it’s most important to create a palette of colours that are related and repeated.
A colour palette will start to feel overwhelming when the colours don’t share undertones or when a new colour palette is introduced into every room in your home. There should always be a primary colour that anchors the space and joins it to the surrounding rooms.
So how do designers control the number of colours when creating their own palette? We often start by determining which colour families will be used and sticking with those. For instance a palette that includes white, blue and yellow may see the blue change from room to room but it won’t be replaced by green in any of the surrounding spaces.
We also use the colours repetitively throughout the space because this looks intentional and can create cohesion. You can play around with the hue and saturation of the colour but before introducing a new colour always consider repeating what’s already present in the palette.
Threading Colour Throughout the Home
One of the most significant ways to create cohesion throughout your entire home is by carrying one or two colours into the other rooms in your home. This continuity is what creates cohesion and will give your home a polished appearance.
If you feel there’s something missing in your home take a look at your spaces and see if there’s an underlying thread that ties these separate rooms together. Without this cohesive tie we might be decorating each room as its own entity and we end up with a feeling of disjointed spaces that don’t belong together.
Using the example above, you have 4 colours that can be brought to other spaces in the home to create unity and continuity. I would be inclined to use the dark blue in small ways throughout the home. This can look like toss pillows in one room, decor items in another and a rug that includes this deep blue in yet another. This becomes the thread that ties all the rooms together.
How Lighting Affects Colour
The single most important factor that affects how we perceive colour is lighting. This includes both natural light and artificial light coming from your lamps and overhead lights. This is the reason you always hear designers talking about testing a paint colour before buying. While you’re testing you’ll notice how the colour changes throughout the day and from morning to evening. Here’s how light affects colour and how the orientation of the light plays a factor in our interpretation of colour.
Southern Exposure
This is the strongest and most intense light and it can be overwhelmingly bright during daytime hours. A lot of lighter paint colours can actually look washed out with a southern exposure. What looks great at 10am can look less wonderful at 2pm.
North Exposure
This type of light is more consistent throughout the day. It’s less harsh than a southern exposure and it can give the room a really beautiful muted light throughout the entire day. It can also be the coolest exposure and it’s important to be careful when selecting colours. The biggest factor in a northern exposure is that it can sometimes make your lighter paint selections lean very gray.
Eastern Exposure
If you’re an early bird with an eastern exposure you’ve got the perfect combination. You’ll experience a lot of intense natural light in the early part of the day as the sun rises. Naturally it fades out as the day progresses, leaving your room feeling darker. The eastern light also tends to be more cool so you want to counterbalance that with a softer, warmer paint.
Western Exposure
Here you’ll experience the opposite and the morning may be darker with the natural light becoming stronger as the hours tick by. This makes picking the perfect paint more than a little bit challenging. How can you pick the right colour when the light is constantly changing? The biggest factor is when you’ll use the room the most. If you use it primarily in the cool light of the morning you’ll want a warmer toned paint colour. If you work away from home all day and come home in the afternoon you can go for a cooler tone to help subdue the warm light that comes in later.
Daytime vs Evening Light
If you’ve ever noticed the dramatic change your paint colour takes from morning to evening you’re not wrong and you’re not seeing things. The same colour can appear dramatically different depending on when you’re viewing it. One of the main reasons people decide to change colour in their homes is due to the lighting conditions and how it’s impacting the wall colour.
Daytime Light
This light contains a full, balanced spectrum of wavelengths that allows the paint colour to appear clean and true to the actual colour. There are less yellow or red hues contained in these wavelengths leaving morning and midday light to feel cool compared to evening light. Daytime light is stronger and more intense and your colours can feel brighter and more vivid.
This has the biggest impact on the cooler colours which can appear crisper and brighter during the daytime hours. You may notice that your lighter colours like white, cream or soft gray look crisper and more pure while cooler and darker colours feel fresh and modern.
Evening Light
It may surprise you to learn that evening light is warmer than daytime light although the light levels are lower. The reason is that in the evening the blue wavelengths are reduced leaving us with a shift towards red, orange and yellow.
In evening light your warmer colours will feel rich and deep although very pale colours can turn dull. In contrast, cooler colours may feel flat and muted.
LED Colour Temperatures
One of the most confusing aspects of lighting for homeowners is how to select the correct temperature to create the environment that’s right for our home. With incandescent lighting we selected our bulbs based on watts which measures the amount of energy to light a fixture or lamp. With LED lighting we select bulbs based on lumens. Lumens measure how much light you’re receiving from a bulb.
The kelvin scale helps us understand the colour of our bulbs. The warmer the light emitted, the lower the kelvin number will be. For instance, candlelight registers at around 2200K. If you prefer warm lighting you’ll be looking for 2700k-3000k while pure white light is around 4000k. Keep these numbers below for the next time you’re shopping for light bulbs.
Less than 2000k – this is a very dim light which is similar to candlelight. This is best utilized as ambient light in low light areas.
2000k-3000k – this will emit a soft white glow that can cast a yellow light. This is ideal for living and dining rooms as well as bedrooms.
3100k-4500k – this emits a bright white light. This can feel stark and is best utilized in kitchens and work areas.
4600k-6500k – this looks like a very blue-white light and can most closely mimic daylight. This is best for spaces where very bright light is needed, i.e. office spaces and display areas.
6500k and above – primarily used in commercial settings, this gives off a bright blue light and would not be considered suitable for residential settings.
Common Mistakes That Prevent a Home from Feeling Cohesive
After many years of designing homes I can see the commonalities when clients complain of a lack of cohesion in their space. Here are the primary reasons and how to fix them:
1/ Changing Colours in Each Room
As we discussed above, when colours change in each room there’s nothing to keep the home feeling cohesive. The exception to this is bedrooms. These are the spaces where we can deviate from the main colour palette and introduce a bit more of each person’s personality. It will be hard to convince young kids that your colour palette is chic so let them have what they love in those special spaces.
Instead, create a palette of 3-4 colours for your home and repeat it throughout your space. Be intentional and stick with the plan and you’ll have a home that’s cohesive.
2/ Relying on Small Paint Chips
One of the fastest ways to make mistakes selecting paint colours is by relying on those teeny, tiny paint chips that you grabbed at the paint store. It’s truly impossible to determine whether this colour works in your home because it’s too small.
So many homeowners make the mistake of picking a colour in isolation that has no connection to your home or the contents. If you’ve ever found yourself standing in the paint store selecting colours just because they caught your eye let this be your sign to stop doing that.
Instead, purchase the large paint samples from your preferred paint supplier. Alternatively, you can paint directly onto your walls. These will give you a much clearer picture of what this colour may look like in your space. I always suggest painting a white board so that the current colour of your walls doesn’t contaminate the sample.
3/ Mixing Warm and Cool Undertones
This is an unintentional mistake made by so many of you because you may not have been aware of the impact of undertones. If you need a refresher, scroll back up to the section entitled Undertones Explained to understand how undertones appear in our homes. This is one of the primary reasons for your rooms feeling off. We all have that feeling of walking into a space and knowing something’s wrong but feeling unable to identify what it is. So often it’s about the undertones being off or clashing.
Start by learning to identify a warm versus a cool undertone. Blue, green and violet undertones are often going to feel cool while yellow, pink and orange will usually feel warm. It’s not necessary that the undertones all match in your space but you’ll want to be consistent with warm and cool undertones.
4/ Following Trends Without Considering Your Home’s Architecture
This happens when homeowners are taking inspiration from magazines, tv design shows or rooms on Pinterest. It’s easy to watch a design show and imagine yourself living in a space that looks and feels the same. And that feeling can often inspire design decisions that end up being mistakes because you haven’t factored your own home into the equation.
The most recent example of this is people wanting to decorate in the style of Modern Farmhouse (read this post to find out more) after watching Joanna Gaines and Shea McGee. Yes, the homes they create are beautiful but often they’ve also designed the home’s architecture in that same style so there’s an inherent cohesion.
When you try to follow trends without considering your own home’s architecture you’ll end up with a round peg in a square hole. One of the most significant factors in a design plan is your home’s style. When was it built? What was the style of that time period? These are the things you should be considering.
Look for examples of homes that look similar to yours and take inspiration from them. Go to Pinterest and search the style of your home, i.e. mid-century modern homes. You’ll see thousands of beautiful spaces that have been designed to respect the home’s architecture. When we try to fight against that it’s always going to feel off so it’s better to embrace what you have rather than fight it.
Project Examples
This client project included several rooms being renovated at the same time. As you can see, the navy blue is the anchor colour in their palette. By bringing the colour into several of the spaces we’ve created a home that feels incredibly cohesive. This looks deliberate and intentional and that’s the way design should always look.
We want to avoid having a home that’s chopped up into rooms that look separate and distinct. There will always feel like something’s missing when you decorate each room in isolation. The best way to create the warmth and balance you’re seeking is to be thoughtful before you begin.
I hope this guide helps you understand how to create a warm, cohesive home. If you still feel overwhelmed, reach out to me. I’d love to discuss how I can help you achieve all your design goals.
